A less than dashing knight
by bhut
Summary: AU - modern times. Across the multiverse, Rose Tico is confronted by a monster. Ben Solo helps. Featuring Hux and Phasma as well.
1. A less than dashing knight

**A less than a dashing knight**

_Disclaimer: I do not own any of them._

…There was Ben Solo at her door.

Not that Rose Tico had had a bad day so far – she woke-up with sister Paige having ditched her again, they were apparently out of bagels in short-term at least, the weather was lousy, (Rose hated the tropics), there was a monster in the ATV she was supposed to repair, and now the mission's leader was at the garage door. Moreover, Rose was hungry, her hair was acting up, and was it mentioned that she had a bad day so far? Because if it was not before, it was now.

"Yes?" she glared upwards at the man in question – technically, he was in charge of their scientific station (in this Lord-forgotten South American jungle), and he overshadowed her literally, (and the monster had already made Rose feel small – Rose hated feeling small; she wasn't small, darn it, just height-challenged!), but, still, he wasn't as scary as the monster, and where did that thought come from?"

"I brought some leftover bagels because you're out," Ben said instead, sounding rather like a giraffe that is trying to be diplomatic. "Also, what's that about a monster? Is it real or did something get garbled within the circle of friendship?"

"What circle?" Rose snapped, even as she examined the bagels. They were of the wrong sort, but they were still bagels, and so she should try to be more polite to the leader of their mission for that reason alone.

"Let's see," Ben sounded genuinely contemplative here. "You called your sister, who called Poe, who called Finn, who called Rey, who called me. Circle of friendship, see? Better sounding than a broken phone line, I would say! Now where's the monster?"

Rose snorted through her nose. She was trying to keep herself angry and miserable, because otherwise she would just quit, go back to her bed and just stay there for the rest of the day, about as useful as a ripped kite, (the toy, not the bird), but somehow, staring up at Ben's placed face, this was proving impossible.

"You're really like your uncle Luke – in a good way," she added belatedly, remembering as to why she was scared of the tall man: somehow, his gaze could be just so scarily shivering… right. What were they talking about, again?

"Don't talk with your mouth full," Ben sighed. "Is there really a monster or did you get into a fight slash argument with Phasma instead and things got garbled up?"

"No, there _is_ a monster," Rose muttered determinedly, even though her mouth was full of bagel – she loved her bagels, darn it – and there were bagel crumbs on her cheek. "It's in our all-terrain vehicle too, which is why I called Paige, because she and Poe are drivers, I'm the mechanic-"

"Right, let me see," Ben sighed, grabbed a couple of heavy gloves, (since both Tico sisters were heavily involved with cars and other vehicles, a lot of their clothing was for that purpose specifically, and neither of them was meticulous as to where they left it), and went to the car. "Where is it?"

"Under the seat," Rose muttered, aware that she should be providing back up, but the monster was too scary. Honestly! She took one look and backed away-

Ben Solo opened the door, albeit wearing gloves, and looked around the vehicle's innards. Sure enough, the monster slowly crawled into the light – the biggest hairiest spider that Rose has ever seen, the fact that it was dark in color only made it worse. Fortunately, the monster just chose to stand there, at the edge of the car's exit, raising its' front legs – and also fangs – threateningly, almost making a hissing sound – or maybe it was just Rose's imagination.

Instead of closing the door and just letting the monster be, Ben blinked, went back to the entrance to the garage, brought in some sort of a container (one of Phasma's, she was the one specializing in them natural sciences, which included monster spiders, apparently), put the monster in question into it, closed the lid and went outside, where he yelled loudly: "Oi! Phasma! Is that one of your catches?"

"Let me see!" Phasma, who came across as Brienne of Tarth channelling her inner Cersei Lannister, yelled back. "Oh! No! It is a wild one! Must've crawled in to escape last night's rain!"

"Going to release or to keep it?"

"I don't know yet! Armitage! Come over here!"

"You wish!"

"Well, since Mohammed doesn't go to the mountain, the mountain will go to Mohammed!"

"Is it a George Martin reference?"

"… Not everything is a George Martin reference!"

"Who are you and what have you done to Phasma? _She is_ a walking George Martin reference-"

Things went downhill after that: when Rose peeked through the garage doors, (she did not want to share her trophy bagels with _anybody_), she saw that Phasma and Hux were running around the camp base – either Phasma was chasing Hux, or Hux was chasing Phasma, or both of them were just running around separately around the camp base in circles. Since it were Phasma and Hux, all of the above was equally likely.

"Is there anything else?" Ben looked down at Rose, as he, apparently, also had his fill of Phasma and Hux's antics for one morning.

Rose blinked and realized that she had shyly grabbed him by one sleeve. "Can you," she swallowed the rest of the last bagel, "help me search the ATV in case the monster has left its' eggs, or babies, or something?"

Ben just stared, silently, at her for some more. "Want to wash it as well?" he asked finally, sounding sarcastic, but not really, at last.

"Great idea!" Rose said brightly, even as she pulled-out the car-washing equipment, (which was a lot less low-tech than how it sounded). "Shall we begin?"

Ben sighed, and changed his clothing into something that was much more appropriate for a car-washing job. "Where's the soap?" he asked instead of arguing, (and boy, didn't that make Rose feel happy for some reason).

"Here!" she chirped, and together, they inspected the van, (and found it to be monster-free now, happily), and washed it – Ben with his usual face… like his uncle Luke, Ben didn't do emotions very well, but that was okay – now that the ATV was clearly monster-free, Rose could do enough happy emotions for both of them, and so she did.

…And abruptly, Rose Tico's day did not turn out to be so bad after all – but that was a thought for another time.

End


	2. Wrong maiden in distress

**Wrong maiden in distress**

_Disclaimer: I do not own anyone, they all belong to Disney™ and Lucasfilm™, I think._

Once upon a time, when the wicked spider monster was slain, Rose Tico was preparing something nice for Ben Solo; not because she was sucking up to their leader, but because something else, some other reason, no doubt – but which one? Cough, and where were we?

Ah yes, the South American wilderness was discouraging in regards to fancy hair and make-up, but, still, Rose was inventive, (she was better than her sister was with machines and stuff for a reason), and so she created a very nice picnic basket and was currently reminiscing as to how she'd introduce the topic to Ben Solo.

And yes, there were bagels too, because reasons, because Rose Tico loved them, and everyone else enjoyed them, and if Paige didn't, well, Paige also dated _Poe Dameron_ for a reason, and-

There was a knock on the door.

"Yes?" Rose opened it, half-expected it to be Ben, and sure enough, it was. He was looking down at her in a manner that was almost concerned, and certainly _not_ judgemental. Oh dear.

"What's wrong?" Rose muttered in a tiny voice.

"Um, Tico – I mean, Rose," Ben looked and sounded authentically apologetic here. "Was it you or your sister who'd prepared Phasma's tree-climbing harness for today?"

"Um," Rose felt her panic attack subsiding, she _knew_ this one. "It was actually Poe Dameron…" she trailed away, picked up her tools, and raced to the site where Phasma, (and Hux), was supposed to be today, studying toucans or some other South American tropical birds. Sadly, she was wearing her favorite sandals that were truly suitable only for indoors here, in South America, so _of course_ she had stumbled when she got outside and would've fallen right onto her face, (and in South America that could've been worse than how it sounded), if Ben hadn't caught her in mid-air and all and just held her there.

…Actually, he just sort of began to carry her, with one arm wrapped around her mid-riff, parallel to the ground. This was demeaning, of course, not to mention politically retarded, and Rose opened her mouth to tell him that when Ben paused, muttered something that Rose did not quite catch, and put her onto his back instead. Since Rose was _still_ not wearing appropriate footwear, she did not feel like objecting _too_ raptly now. Moreover, she saw Hux approaching them, and the man was looking rather panicked now – which meant that he was liable to lash out at anyone that he could, so Rose decided to let their leader handle this.

"Where, where is this braggart?" Hux sputtered, only maybe it was not 'braggart' that he was saying – whenever he got really upset and/or angry, he would mix Italian and other languages with his English – and the Tico sisters really were not good with European languages that were not English.

Hux looked at Rose, his eyes gleaming.

"No, it wasn't her," Ben told the other man curtly. "It was Dameron, apparently. Find him later, or now, and rant. Me and her will go and help Phasma instead."

"Good idea," Hux backed down, some. "Phasma's so scared that she's angry enough to climb the tree herself-"

Rose remembered some of the trees of the South America's tropical forest, and blanched. "Hurry," she told Ben, (she would always deny kicking him while on his back), "this can end really badly!"

And hurry Ben did. They arrived just in time, as the frustrated Phasma was about to leave the relative safety of her harness and the rest of the tree-climbing apparatus, and begin to descend manually. Considering that she was basically stuck in the lower branches of a really tall tropical tree, this probably wouldn't have led to anything good, because climbing tropical trees without a safety harness is a bad idea, even if you _are_ as athletic as Phasma was, and she would've been climbing down, and not up.

Instead… Phasma ended up being stuck in the tree for a while longer, but now Rose was working and rebooting her equipment, and since unlike Poe she knew how it all was supposed to go down _properly_, and so Phasma did not climb down by hand. In place of that, she and Ben yelled an exchange at each other via radio and not, because both of them could be _that_ loud, and then Phasma observed her new toucan friends as they decided that she _was_ worth their while after all, (or was just harmless – Rose was not so good with wild animals outside of a museum or a zoo), and so they hanged around Phasma, demonstrating their colorful plumage and bills.

And then, finally, Phasma was able to come back down to the ground, which she did…reluctantly. Apparently, now that she was not actually stuck up there, she did not want to come back down to begin with. Consequently, she and Ben got to shout at each other some more, until Hux returned to the scene and told everyone, including Rose, (and it was actually nice to be included, for some reason), that he had found Dameron. Phasma immediately came down, and together with Hux, she left to yell at Dameron instead. Also at Paige, but right now Rose didn't care much about Paige; plus by now she knew enough about Phasma to see that she wasn't going to be violent at Dameron's ass, and as for being yelled at… they were all grown-ups, technically, and so Rose had no intention of getting involved.

"Want to have a picnic, meanwhile?" she was asked Ben brightly.

The latter just blinked. "What's the reason?" he finally answered with his own question.

"For saving me from the monster-"

"It was a spider-"

"A monster spider then-"

"Fine," Ben decided to give-in on this argument. "So, you want me to make you a bagel with bacon, lettuce and tomatoes?"

"Yes please!" Rose said cheerfully, and this was what Ben did. More precisely, they did have a nice picnic together, and even though some of the toucans did flutter down, closer to the ground, to try and steal their meal, they failed to ruin it: Rose and Ben did enjoy themselves for the next few hours, while Phasma and Hux yelled at Poe, and Paige ran interference – but that was another story.

End


	3. The unwilling dragon

**The unwilling dragon**

_Disclaimer: see previous chapters_.

Once upon a time, when Rose Tico had finished fixing what her sister and Poe allowed to grow slack, and was greasy, sweaty, and tired, and really wanted to take a shower, there was a knock on her door.

"What?" she snapped, as she opened a door, and saw Armitage Hux of all people.

"Phasma and I wanted to tell you thank you in regards to your fixing our – I mean her – harness," Hux did not back down.

"Your gratitude is accepted," Rose muttered, feeling as if she was drowning her own clothing and skin – so sweaty, dirty, and greasy she currently was – and Hux was really unnecessary here and now, period. "Now go away!"

"No can't do, little Tico," Hux was not cooperating, sadly. "This isn't how you think it is. You need to go down to the river, where Phasma's waiting and all-"

Rose's temper snapped. It was always possible that it was some sort of a stupid prank, her relationship with Phasma, (and by extension Hux), was never all that good, but right now she felt rather like Phasma herself – too angry to be properly tired; and so, with a proportionally loud snarl, she launched herself at Hux, who dodged her with the ease of someone, who had dealt with an angry Phasma for a long time now, and so an angry Rose wasn't much of a challenge.

Rose did not care. She gave chase. Snarling and hooting, (the latter was entirely Hux's doing – sometimes the red-haired man could be strange in a very disturbing way), the two ran… all the way down to the river, where Phasma was waiting for them.

So was Ben, but that was a good thing:

"Hux, you idiot!" he shouted. "Did you mess it up _on purpose_?"

"Who, me?" Hux effortlessly caught his breath, while Rose did not. Not as effortlessly, anyhow. "OF course not!"

"Phasma," Ben pinched his nose, "this is your man slash closest friend in our circle, correct? Do something about him, would you?"

"It's probably years too late," Phasma muttered, but slapped Hux on the back of his head all the same: "Bad Hux, bad!"

Hux glared at Phasma, and instead of verbally replying, just jumped on her, and the duo began to roll around on the river shore.

Rose just looked at Ben. "Yes, the two of them still didn't get fully over Phasma's tree top excursion," Ben sighed. "My fault this – I believed them when they told me that they did." He sighed and sat next down to Rose. "Now they are going to go at this for a while…"

"That's okay," Rose sat onto Ben's lap – she might as well spread her misery – and greasy dirt – around. "We can wait."

Ben blinked and looked down at Rose. Given their respective positions to each other right now, this was less than a stretch at one hand, and something else on the other.

"…Right," Rose muttered even as Ben had had issues. "Where were we?"

The river water developed gentle ripples as they began to move towards the shore. Phasma and Hux ignored them, (and they had actually moved away from the water's edge into the jungle proper). Ben and Rose noticed them, but did not feel like doing anything about them.

"There _are_ caiman in this river," Ben confessed. "I don't think that they will launch an attack on dry land, so far from the water."

"I hear you," Rose echoed brightly – after the monster spider slash spider monster, she did not really feel like doing anything heroic, especially if it was unnecessary…

Something emerged from the water – not a caiman or a crocodile, but rather an anaconda, the water boa. It could be hard to say if it was more dangerous than a caiman or less, but right now, it didn't seem to be too antagonistic towards humans, but rather, it crawled into an out of the way place, and stopped.

"Now what?" Rose muttered, as the two of them eyed the great snake, and vice versa.

"I'm not entirely sure," Ben confessed. "I've encountered black caiman down here before, and they don't tend to be too hostile when out of the water, but this is something new. We have not encountered too many anacondas like this around here before-"

The snake flexed. It flexed some more, and then it promptly began to give birth. Unlike the caimans, which made nests and laid eggs there rather like birds, this reptile began to give birth to live young – literally. Not unlike humans either, if humans were shaped like great big constrictor snakes.

"…You know, this feels rather like Phasma's thing," Rose pinched her nose, as she felt even more uncomfortable, hot and sweaty, (in a greasy way) than how she did before. Then she realized that she had picked up one of Ben's habits, and turned somewhat red.

"…What do you think Phasma is currently doing, with Hux?" Ben muttered back, sounding not too happy himself. "Why do you think that Hux and I don't always get along? I don't do voyeurism; I don't like having front row to their escapades, or sexcapades, for that matter."

"So what do you want to have?" Rose asked quietly.

"A bath. In the shower. With you maybe?" Ben alternated between being red and white. "Just not in the river-?"

Rose looked at their local river, which did look about as swampy and uninviting, as always. "Good idea," she said brightly, as she got onto her feet, and helped Ben get onto his. (The giant snake placidly ignored them). "Let's go and do this, shall we?"

…And that was what they did: they got up, and went back home, (well, to their home base), and they had a shower together, and they did have fun, (among other things). Moreover, when it was over, they found something else at the door – a rather nice crocodile-skin bag, (legally bought, and made, and what else have you) – a gift from Phasma, it was.

"You know, maybe she isn't so bad, especially when the theatrics aren't involved," Rose muttered to Ben demurely.

Ben skeptically looked back, but said nothing.

End


	4. Intermission: A Day at the Beach

**Intermission: A day at the beach**

_Disclaimer: see previous chapters._

…Even before everything, Rose really loved beach days – their station in the jungle was wonderful, of course, (cough spider monster cough), and Rose genuinely loved working with various cars and other machines, but she loved her – their – vacation/days off as well.

Primarily this was because on their vacations they all went down to the beach, where the air was less sweltering and more fresh, and, hello, sea! Well, the Atlantic ocean, really, but Rose followed grandma's Tico's advice, grandma Tico really liked to use the phrase 'the ocean-sea' in her stories, and Rose loved her – their – grandma – and so this phrase stuck in her head, further muddling the distinction between an ocean and a sea in her mind.

"Got to admit – this is an unusual turn of phrase," Ben commented idly, as the two of them sat on their beach blanket beneath a parasol, and observed Phasma, Hux, and the others playing in the surf. "Are you ready to go in?"

"Maybe later," Rose muttered from behind her oversized sunglasses, (she was wearing them not because of the sun, but for other reasons, really). "Has Phasma stopped being frisky yet?"

"It's Phasma," Ben grimaced back. "I think the proper question is – does she even stop?"

"Nice," Rose grimaced – after the toucan misadventure and Phasma's gratitude gift, she became more accepting of the taller woman, but she still doubted that the two of them would ever be friends, period.

"…That said," Ben apparently saw something on Rose's face, sunglasses or no sunglasses, and backpedalled on his Phasma statement, somewhat: "She _does_ get distracted, on a regular basis, whenever the latest speckled hummingbird or another flies by her. Why, you have seen her with the toucans-"

"Good point," Rose admitted as she belatedly remembered that incident. "Did you tell her about the water boa incident yet?"

"…I would rather not," Ben grimaced. "I would rather her sticking with birds than going into the swampy river."

"As opposed to the deep blue sea?"

"…Do you even know as to _how_ to swim?" Ben twitched.

"Mmm," Rose made some vague noises. "Asparagus?"

Ben stared at the offered vegetable. "Not bagels?"

"Not here and now, plus I don't exist on bagels alone!" Rose said defensively. "I eat a well-balanced diet!" she made a vague gesture that indicated her body. Since they were all on the beach and everyone was rather underdressed…probably not the smartest move that she could have done… She just did not care.

"Good point," Ben made his own decision. He got onto his feet, grabbed Rose around her waist – again, (the last time was when they were rushing to save Phasma from her tree), and carried her into the surf.

Rose thought about some sort of token resistance, maybe even a squeal, but… her sister and Poe were nearby, and so she did not. Instead, she allowed herself to be carried down the shore, (while keeping one wary eye for her sister and Poe, but no issues – the two of them were busy in the shallows, doing each other, most likely), and dumped into the shallow salty sea water, (Cough alliteration cough), with an unceremonious splash, (and a shriek).

…Immediately, the various tropical fish scattered from the direction of Rose's impact upon the sandy sea floor, but something else emerged, armed with tentacles, but not exactly an octopus, more like some sort of a mix between an octopus and a fish.

"This is either a squid or a cuttlefish," Ben muttered sagely, as Rose jumped back onto him and observed the new kind of sea monster with almost the same fearful curiosity that she had given the monster spider that had once invaded her car.

…Okay, it was the _team's_ car, but still, Rose could be possessive of things that considered to be hers by default, and that included any car that she worked on, (or used to work on, but that was another story… cough maybe restraining order cough)… where were we?

Ah yes, the cuttlefish did not seem to be too hostile – rather, it just whirled around and swam towards a nearby retreat instead. Sadly, this path took the cephalopod past Hux and Phasma, and not surprisingly, it instantly caught their eye with a delighted squeal of their own: Phasma raced straight away back to the shore, where she quickly produced some sort of a customized net, (looked like a butterfly net to Rose, but Phasma knew better, no doubt), in order to catch the mollusk, while Hux remained in the water to keep track, lest it got away and hid, (just like the octopus, the cuttlefish is a master of disguise, you know).

"Well, this is fun," Ben muttered, as he and Rose observed Phasma and Hux chase the cuttlefish through the shallows, and clearly having a ball of it. "How are _you_ doing?"

"I'm fine…" Rose belatedly realized that she herself was rather draped all over Ben like some octopus or cuttlefish, and let go. Sadly, this meant that she fell back into the sea…only Ben caught her… only it meant that this time they both fell into the seawater with a splash…

"This is why I only like salt on my greens…or my roasted chicken," Rose muttered, as she crawled from beneath Ben, (and after spitting out a small fountain of seawater of her own).

"Grilled or crispy?" Ben muttered, as he got onto his hands and knees.

"Pardon?"

"Your chicken – grilled or crispy? I like crispy better," Ben muttered.

"I don't care, as long as it's cooked properly," Rose muttered back.

There was a pause as the two of them just stared at each other. "Did we just have a casual talk that didn't include spider monsters?" Rose finally spoke to Ben, (while bushing like crazy).

"Yeah, seems like it," Ben sounded atypically shy himself. "Ah you want to-"

"Yeah, good idea," Phasma commented, (even though no one asked her), as she and Hux walked by. "Unlike your sister and Poe Dameron, you really shouldn't do each other in public." She paused, clearly enjoying herself, (Hux wisely kept quiet), and added: "You know, we're renting a boat to go further out into the sea later today. We can share it with you if you two want to-?"

Rose and Ben looked at each other, tried to kill the other couple with their minds, failed to do so, and agreed.


	5. Intermission II: A Day out at Sea

**Intermission II: A Day out at Sea**

_Disclaimer: I do not own anyone here._

…Rose had to hand it to Phasma and Hux – they did get a rather impressive looking motorboat for all four of them, and they were all set to go forth and have adventures at sea. Or sex, whatever would come first.

"…This is really more of Paige and Poe's thing," Rose commented to Ben as the two of them looked overboard…while Phasma and Hux steered the craft…or argued about as to who would steer it…or did both of those things simultaneously…who knows? Theirs was a complex relationship, while Ben and Rose's was a new one instead. "Me, I would rather watch a good movie-"

"True, but there's no good movies in our corner of South America, and our home base – I mean, science base, has no home theater, naturally," Ben muttered into one of Rose's ear from behind. "And watching something on a computer via YouTube isn't the same, eh?"

"Totally," Rose readily agreed, as she thrust, also readily, her bottom up into the air. "Let's do it!"

And off they went, pushing and thrusting back and forth, with Ben being on top, and holding onto Rose, and Rose on the bottom, and holding onto the rails. The two were naked on the bottom and scarcely dressed on the top, and slick, and sweaty, and very happy. (Rose idly thought that maybe she should freckle, now that a rather important milestone in their relationship was reached and all)…

_Meanwhile…_

"Well, they're screwing each other like crazy," Hux commented to Phasma in a faux-bored voice. "Want to join them?"

"Not yet," Phasma was not fooled by Hux…and vice versa, incidentally, but then again, the two of them _were_ in a relationship for a while. "Good thing that Ben found someone by now too – for some time it looked like we would have a threesome instead-"

"Don't go there," Hux muttered crossly. "So the three of us had issues – we resolved them. I actually like Rose…especially if Ben is running interference between us."

"True, though don't forget – Rose also means her sister, and Poe, and Rey, and Finn-"

"Phasma, we've been grouped together on our science base for _weeks_, if not _months_! Moreover, we have not killed each other in a mass murder-suicide spree yet! I'm sure we can handle the rest of our time together, eh?" Hux replied in that quasi-optimistic way that made _some_ people want to murder him. "Now what _are_ you planning to do out here?"

"Enjoy the sea life, of course," Phasma made a wide sweeping gesture with both of her hands. "Now keep your eyes out – this part of the ocean is famous for its' sharks – nurse sharks, reef sharks, snaggletooth sharks, and, of course, the mighty and magnificent tiger sharks-!"

"You catch one glorified undernourished squid, and suddenly you're the star of 'Jaws'," Hux muttered back, apparently not impressed.

"You just don't appreciate the mix of adrenaline and tranquility," Phasma's own reply was dismissive. "An encounter with a shark in the wild is a life changing event! Sharks are truly incredible creatures!"

As the duo argued, their motorboat slowly ground to a stop as the duo gradually transferred their attention to the sea overboard, and prepared to make their dive. They declined to call Ben and Rose – the other couple was obviously busy with each other, but rather dived, full of excitement – or at least Phasma was. Hux was more ambiguous about diving into the shark-infested water, (according to him), so naturally, within the first few moments of them diving, several local hammerhead sharks emerged from the ocean's gloom.

Okay, calling the ocean gloomy was a misdirection – this part of the ocean was actually sunny and well-lit; it's just that the presence of the hammerhead sharks cast a special pall over the waters: all other sharks, even the tiger sharks, seemed to have left this area now that the great hammerheads have arrived, gliding through the water – and then they turned and plummeted past Hux and Phasma.

"Wow!" Phasma could only speak (via the mike in the mask of her diving suit; after a certain incident with a tiger shark when only a lucky barrel roll had saved the day they were not taking any chances. "These sharks are amazing!"

"They are also at least four and a half meters long," Hux muttered back. "What if they decide to try us for taste? Maybe we should start ending the dive?"

"Nonsense! I have not fully observed the shape of their heads! They're amazing!" Phasma did budge. "Besides, these sharks don't like to eat humans – see how they're hunting the local stingrays? This is really our lucky day!"

"As long as we make it to the boat, that is," Hux muttered back as the fast and vigorous hammerheads kept up with their antics. Still, after about 15 minutes of amusing the two humans with their antics, the sharks had had enough, and whirling around, they vanished back into the ocean.

"What a perfect ending to a perfect day!" Phasma commented, as she and Hux surfaced themselves. "What an epic dive, too!"

"...So, this is a regular day in your life, then?" Rose commented, almost startling the other couple as she and Ben helped them to get back onto the motorboat.

"Yeah, pretty much," Hux muttered, as he sat on the deck and began to disrobe and dry himself. "Phasma won't miss a moment of it, though!"

"I love you too," Phasma rolled her eyes at the redhead. "So, now what?"

"Bagel?" Rose suggested helpfully. "Lunch?"

"I can do that," Phasma readily agreed. "I'm on a roll today. Hux?"

"We'll be screwing each other next," it was Hux's turn to roll eyes. "If you have a problem, it can be your turn to dive overboard, if you want-"

"No can do – it's getting late, we need to get the motorboat back to the harbor. Rose, it will be on us-"

"Aye-aye, captain Solo!" Rose faux-saluted him. Ben actually grinned back. So did Phasma and punched Hux in the side – in a loving way.

"This is going to be a _long_ trip back to the shore," Hux just muttered.

He was right.


	6. Back to Business

**Back to Business**

_Disclaimer: see previous chapters._

…Before long, to everyone's regret, things went back to business; the tropical ocean shore was left behind and they were all back in the jungle, once more doing scientific research and the like.

That said, things _weren't_ entirely back to normal – Rose, for one, wanted something else, something different, as she commented to Ben as the two of them sat one day in his office, while outside, an atypically strong wind was blowing through the jungle, coming down the mountains.

"I find myself strangely wanting," Rose told Ben. "I don't like rushing, yet lately, when I'm starting to work, I am founding myself going through the motions as fast as I can-"

"Phasma isn't going to have a repeat of the toucan incident, will she?" Ben asked, not unreasonably.

"No!" Rose snapped. "I'm not like Paige, let alone Poe! I take pride in my work and skill! There is not going to be any misfiring harnesses on _my_ watch! That said," she added, cooling down as quickly as she had fired up, "where _is_ Phasma working slash researching today, this week? I don't think it's birds anymore…"

"No, it's some sort of a tree frog with a special home for its' tadpoles," Ben twitched. "Did I mention that I don't really like them frogs and the rest of the amphibians?"

"You seemed as cool as a cucumber with the anaconda…"

"An anaconda is a snake, which means – a reptile, which means that it's not an amphibian – for further details, ask Phasma. She explained it to me and Hux a long time ago, whether we wanted it or not-"

"So, the three of you are good friends?" Rose pressed on.

"Don't know about me and Hux, but yes, the relationship that three of us has is the closest that any of us would consider to be friendly by conventional standards. You?"

"Me?"

"You have any friends?"

"No, but I have my sister, and she has friends, and that was good enough, and that sounds a little sad, so now I have you and your friends?" Rose spoke in a single rush, (but she was feeling as if she was rushing herself a lot lately). "Sorry if I sound rather pathetic-"

"No, you're not!" Ben snapped, as he rubbed Rose's back just as intensely – the wind was unusually strong and brisk for the tropics, but Rose was shivering from entirely different reasons. "You're anything but, and if anyone tells you otherwise, they're so wrong! Just call us, and we'll beat them up-"

Rose stood on her tiptoes and kissed Ben straight on the lips. Ben responded in kind, and for a while they just ignored everything else, including the passing of time, cough.

"…So, do you- dislike anything else?" Rose pressed Ben, when the two finally came up for air, metaphorically speaking.

"Yeah. Sunsets."

"Of course, ask an emo Goth-"

"I'm not an emo Goth anymore, we outgrew this phase a long time ago – just ask Phasma," Ben pinched his nose. "Or at least I did – I'm not sure about Hux, whether he had outgrown it at all, or what."

"Hux was also emo-?" Rose did not know if she was horrified or fascinated by this revelation.

"He jelled his hair; trust me, this was bad," Ben winced. "He also started me on my own path of self-discovery, but sunsets have nothing to do with that – I never liked them from the start."

"Oh? Why?" Rose allowed herself to be distracted from the mental image of Hux with jelled hair.

"I don't know, I just don't," Ben admitted. "I've no problems with days or nights or sunrises, but sunsets always creep me out for some reason, you know? People always say that the night is brightest before the dawn, but the flip side is that the day is brightest before the dusk, and the two statements make equal amount of sense-"

"Ben, you're ranting," Rose said gently and kissed him again. Naturally, Ben responded in kind, and the two just stood there, in his office, doing nothing, but then again, Rose was on her break, and Ben was the leader, so he had _some_ benefits, and there was that.

"…Glad to see that you're relaxing after working yourselves to _exhaustion_," Phasma commented with some sarcasm, as she got into Ben's office, followed by Hux.

"Yes, well, I already did half of my chores by now," Rose rolled her eyes.

"Half? I did everything!" Phasma rolled her eyes right back.

"Really?" Rose did not back down.

"Anyways, getting back on track," Hux spoke up suddenly and loudly, breaking the two women up, "I'm guessing that Ben has been rumbling here about as to why sunrises are good, sunsets are bad, but both are really the same?"

"Yes-?"

"Well, the counterstatement to his proclamation is that people want to be cheered up, not depressed-"

"Are you still pretending that the Star Wars prequel trilogy doesn't exist-?"

Hux facepalmed and glared at Ben through the fingers, while muttering something decidedly nasty beneath his breath.

"You people like Star Wars?" Rose blinked.

"Sure do! Run a small semi-online private club and everything," Phasma agreed, readily enough. "I'm the president, Ben's the treasurer, Hux is the secretary. Want to be the vice president?"

Rose blinked and looked at Ben. "Meh, I have no problems with that," he told her plainly. "Hux might, though-"

"We'll talk about this later," Hux, uncharacteristically for him, glared at Phasma.

"Sure we will," Phasma snorted and ruffled his hair. Considering what she had heard about it and Hux earlier, Rose could not help but to giggle.

Something snapped in Hux, and he tackled Phasma, shoving her out of the doorway of Ben's office.

"In other news," Ben said brightly, "my parents have learned about you and, well, us, and want to meet you when we return from the tropics. Are you game?"

"…" Rose blinked by the sudden change of topics. "Seriously," she asked, "seriously? Your sense of tactics and social skills suck."

"Mmm," Ben grumbled noncommittally. "Is that a yes or a no?"

Something snapped in Rose, she closed the door shut, not that Phasma and Hux were coming back anytime soon anyhow, and the two of them had angry sex immediately.

And then Rose agreed to meet his parents, but that was another story.


	7. Meeting the Parents

**Meeting the Parents**

_Disclaimer: I do not own any characters here._

When Rose and Ben had arrived at the Organa-Solo household, (it was not located that far from the home of Phasma's folks, actually), Rose was surprised by what she saw: a clean, neat household – i.e., a private house with a small flower garden, over which a bunch of butterflies were actually fluttering on. There were trees, and a fence, and several dogs running around, and a man, whose family resemblance with Ben was quite obvious, was looking at them, appearing to be quite lost.

"Hello dad," Ben said, (rather woodenly, in Rose's opinion). "What's up? What are you doing here? Had a fight with mom?"

"Hello son, and love you too," the older man replied, as he and Ben shook their hands, however carefully. "Mom's inside."

"Great. This is Rose," Ben indicated her, even as he continued in the same tone of voice, just… more humane and excited, now that Rose was mentioned for real.

His father blinked and looked over Rose in a manner not unlike Ben's, again, whenever the latter was the boss, and not just the boyfriend, (or rather from before, when he was just the boss, and not also the boyfriend).

"Hello!" the older man continued brightly, doing his best not to be flat-footed. "Nice to meet you. I'm Han!"

"Hello!" Rose squeaked back, carried out by some inner sense – it certainly wasn't courage, now could it be? "I'm Rose! Tico!"

Han looked thoughtful. "You aren't related to someone named Paige Tico, now do you?" he finally asked. "I've heard of her from Poe, and Phasma, and Hux-"

"Yes, she's my sister – my older sister," Rose agreed readily enough. "Did she talk about me, some?" she asked, almost as an afterthought.

"'Some' sounds like a right word," Han agreed. "Frankly, Leia and Luke – that's her brother, my brother-in-law, Ben's uncle – have their differences, but we talk between each other, and about each other, while Paige-"

"What father means, is that we all argue between each other, a lot," Ben pinched his nose, (and now Rose could see that he had inherited it from his father too), "as in my parents between each other, me with my parents, me with my uncle, my parents and my uncle, and so on, see?"

"Now Ben, that's an _exaggeration_," spoke a cheerful, round-faced, middle-aged woman as she opened the door and looked outside. "We're a perfectly normal, lovely family-"

"Mom, you used to be a professional politician – the democratic edition, but still," Ben rolled his eyes. "That's not normal. Anyhow, can Rose and I come in, please?"

"Ben, are you going to start something?" Mrs. Organa-Solo seemed to huff up and inflate herself.

"No, because Phasma has also come home, and she brought Hux with her, and her parents have gotten you to watch after her dogs, and I don't want to be outside when that explosion occurs-"

"Oh Ben, you worry too much!" came the cheerful voice of the woman in question. "Hello, Mr. Solo! Hello, Mrs. Organa-Solo! Do not mind us! We're here just to get my dogs!"

"Hello," Hux added much less enthusiastically. "Mr. Solo? Phasma's father says 'hi' and-"

"I know; he says a lot of things," Mr. Solo, Han, said sourly. "So, how was your jungle mission?"

"It was wonderful!" Rose piped up, actually before Phasma. "There were birds, and tree frogs, and Ben here had rescued me from a spider monster-"

"It was a monster spider-" Ben actually caught himself and practically facepalmed. "It was just a spider, really. Can we try again?"

"Certainly," his mother said in a much more cheerful voice. "Everyone, please come in!"

/ / /

…And everyone did.

"So, you've been here a lot?" Rose could not help but to ask Phasma – she had to admit that she found the extravert big blonde-haired woman very helpful lately, especially in those awkward social situations.

"Hux's father is a piece of crud, and Ben and his family aren't nowhere as bad as he tells it, so yes, we got together in the backyard out there, lovely place, and you know, hanged around," Phasma agreed easily.

Hux muttered something under his breath. "Yes, Armitage, you also have started your SW club out there as well," Mrs. Organa-Solo, ("Please, call me Leia"), easily agreed. "You three were so dramatic!" Just as easily, she shifted gears and turned to Rose: "Young lady, welcome aboard! I hope that you like it here. I also hope that you like Ben-"

"I already do-" it was Rose's turn to catch herself and practically facepalm. "Can I try again?"

"Please do," Leia commented, as she sat the table, practically by herself, (her husband helped). "How did it all begin?"

Rose took a deep breath, and told of her heroic saving from the terrible spider monster by her dashing hero. The dashing hero was sitting right next to her and was stoically enduring every portion of the story, just alternating between being red, white and pink in color, because in Rose's telling, the story had acquired _a lot _of brand new details.

Phasma was giggling. Hux was smirking. Ben indicated to Hux, that he was dead. Hux disagreed. Ben did not back down. His parents were distracted by Rose's tale and failed to notice the uprising confrontation. Rose proved to be a _good_ storyteller, actually. Things began to get out of hand.

"Boys, stop it!" Leia said in a maternal tone of voice. Things got back into hand. Phasma shoved the older woman an approving, thumbs-up gesture. Rose finished her story. Ben _did not _die from mortification. "You're certainly daughter-in-law material!" Leia said in blunt approval. "Han?"

Han took one look at his wife, (they had their own marital problems, by the way), and gave his paternal approval too. Ben twitched, but endured.

…It was then that Phasma's father, (who _was not_ anywhere as bad as Hux's was, but he and Han had his own complex masculine relationship), and actually apologized…about the damage that his dogs have done to the Organa-Solo flower garden slash back yard. Things went sideways from there.

(…"So, do _you_ want to get married?" Ben muttered to Rose in all the excitement. Rose just blushed and agreed).


	8. Visiting grandma Tico

**Visiting grandma Tico**

_Disclaimer: see previous chapters._

…The first time that Ben saw the Tico family lands, (or was it called the estate?), he was immediately reminded of his uncle Luke's lands, aka the site of his dojo/retreat/school, whatever you want to call it; just less civilized. Not a comparison that Ben thought that he would make in regards to Ahch-To, but there you have it.

"Yes, now that Paige and I aren't spending much time here, grandma Tico isn't able to maintain the grounds in a proper form," Rose readily agreed, "but it isn't so bad…" She trailed away as the duo looked around. Small birds were flying up from the grass, equally small rodents were running through it, and though neither Ben nor Rose would admit it to each other, but both of them thought that they might have seen a small but probably venomous snake crawl by as well.

"Right," Ben broke the tense silence. "Let's go and meet your grandmother, shall we?"

Therefore, the duo did. Luckily for them, the path was not too far-gone yet, and the duo were able to move through it, even though they did have to look underfoot…just in case.

"So, how often either you or Paige are visiting her?" Ben continued to ask questions, just because.

"Rather irregularly," Rose admitted guiltily, "as you can guess yourself by our South American stint. Still, something is always better than nothing, I always say…"

Rose trailed off, as the duo came across some sort of a party – a rather hippy one, one should add.

"…Now I am officially lost," Rose muttered, as she somewhat _not_ hid behind Ben. "Any idea as to what we should do now?"

"I think that I know where to start," Ben sighed, as he moved towards a certain big hairy guy, flanked by Rose, because reasons. "Hey there, uncle Chewie. What is going on here?"

The latter – and since when did Ben have _another _uncle? – turned around and using grunts and gestures, (not the most talkative man, this one was), explained that Ms. Tico has kindly agreed to loan her family's lands for some nature TV show, watch and observe it!

…And so Ben and Rose did, actually. It really was some sort of a live nature show, not unlike something that you could see on Animal Planet before it sold itself out completely to the corporate devil, cough…and, apparently, on this particular episode, a venomous cottonmouth, (or another pit viper), was being matched and compared to a non-venomous water snake, or grass snake, or some similar reptile.

…Neither Ben nor Rose were the real life specialists that Hux and Phasma were, (or at least Phasma was, and where she and Hux were in the meanwhile,Rosecould have really used them to pad the silence), but they could see that neither of the reptiles was too happy with their handlers; the latter _were_ professionals, fair enough, but regardless, Rose began to realize that she and Ben were stalling, all the same.

"Yes, well where do we start looking?" Ben replied, when she pointed this out. "It's a large place, and I don't know it at all-"

"Hello, dear," spoke a much older version of Rose, wearing a pair of extra-large spectacles and a long pearl necklace. "Is this your fellow?"

Rose readily agreed. "Hello, grandma Maz!" she said in Vietnamese.

"Stop showing off," the much-older woman snorted, before switching her attention to Ben. "So, you're Han and Leia's boy?"

Ben shrugged. "Yes. How long did you know them?"

"Mostly via Chewie," Maz shook her hand fondly at Ben's non-biological relative. "And how was your mission in the jungle?"

"Fine, grandma Maz," Rose spoke with more spunk and good cheer than she normally did – clearly, her grandmother was good for her. "I met Ben, got myself a new handbag, and got rescued from a monster spider, the usual!"

Maz blinked and looked at Ben. "It was _just_ a spider, really," he told her.

"He is being humble-"

"No, I am not-"

"Yes, you are-"

Chewie walked over to Ben and patted him across the shoulders.

"In other news, we want to know, what's with the TV series over here?" Ben accepted his que and changed the topic.

"Oh, that, just a small way for me to make money," Maz said dismissively, in a manner not unlike Rose's, actually. "Bagel? Or a hot dog?"

Ben blinked. Chewie blinked. Even Rose blinked, but immediately caught herself. "Grandma Maz," she told her rather sternly, "should I call Paige and Poe? Are there financial difficulties, or are you just lonely?"

"I am having a midlife crisis!" Maz said brightly.

"Grandma," Rose sputtered, "you're- grandma! Grandmas don't have mid-life crises!"

"I do!"

"It _does_ sound more like uncle Chewie's thing," Ben agreed with his significant other.

Chewie sputtered, and glared at the younger man. Ben shrugged apologetically, but stood by Rose.

"Regardless of whether or not Chewie has a mid-life crisis," Maz opted to be the voice of reason, "are you two hungry? Chewie, you're _always_ hungry, judging by what I've learned."

Chewie shrugged and declined from arguing about the obvious. "So-?" Rose continued, returning to the elephant in the room, (or rather – the snakes on the front lawn, cough).

"They were looking around for an appropriate location to film their specials for online streamer videos, I volunteered, the end," Maz snorted. "Rose, kindness makes the world go round, remember?"

Rose glared and muttered something about sisters beneath her breath.

"Yeah, I'll take it as acceptance of my wisdom," her grandmother said loftily. "Now, how about that meal?"

Ben looked at Rose, Rose looked at Ben, Chewie looked at both of them. "Fine," Ben muttered, "let's have lunch. Uncle Chewie hasn't changed _that much_ since we left for South America, it looks like." He paused and added, askance: "Also, my folks are wondering when you will be coming over-?"

Chewie did not back down, and in his typical manner explained that that will happen when their diet kick will end. Ben sighed, and pointed out that diets were good for health. Chewie disagreed.

"I like him," Maz told her granddaughter in the meantime, albeit in Vietnamese. "You choose well!"

Rose just blushed, but did not argue.


	9. Epilogue

**Epilogue**

_Disclaimer: I do not own anyone here; they all are a part of the SW franchise._

The sun was shining, the sky was largely clear, (though it was supposed to rain tomorrow, but so far there was no sign of that), and Ben was worried.

"Dear, stop fussing," Rose said gently. "You're worrying the baby!"

Ben looked down at the two-year-old Anakin Organa-Solo-Tico, (so far, the boy was shorter than his last name was) and exhaled. "Sorry dear – it's just that it's Hux and Phasma-"

"Isn't that my que-?"

"I knew them for far longer than you did-"

"So-?" Rose did not complete her question slash inquiry slash statement, as the aforementioned other couple appeared on the scene. Moreover, they had a pet with them, too!

"You were saying?" Ben couldn't help but to ask his wife even as both of them stared at the animal in question with some sort of an unholy fascination; Anakin, (named after his late grandpa, because _of course_ he was), was just fascinated instead.

"Don't push it, or you'll be the one sleeping on the couch instead!" Rose told her husband sternly, before whirling back to Hux and Phasma: "And with what body part were the two of you thinking, bringing a dangerous animal here?"

"Come on, Prickly is harmless!" Phasma said brightly.

"It's a porcupine, and Anakin has just turned two! What made you think that it would be _safe_-?"

The other couple blinked and stared at the baby in question, as if it was a brand new thing in their life, (which was not quite accurate, not lately). "…Oh!" They both said, finally. "Oh. That might have been a miscalculation on our part. We're guessing it's too early for having one of your own for a family pet?"

Ben carefully did not look at Rose. Rose was intently trying not to channel her inner Paige – even now, after a couple of years of…everything, Paige was still the more extravert Tico sister by a wide margin.

"Ah! Hux! Phasma! There you are!" Surprisingly, it was Ms. Leia Organa-Solo, (the proud grandma), who appeared on the scene to diffuse it. "And who's your new mascot, eh?"

"Excuse us," the couple in question said brightly and used the distraction to vanish from the scene.

Rose sagged. "I don't want to fight them or anything!" she all but wailed, "but the baby! The spiny porcupine! The prickly spines! Everything! It's a disaster, together!"

"I know dear," Leia sympathetically patted her daughter-in-law on the shoulder. "Hux and Phasma are sorry-"

"I know, I know, it's just that, um," Rose exhaled and relaxed, some. "Can we start again?"

"…Dad and uncle Chewie have the cake ready?" Ben suggested helpfully from his flanking position.

"Good idea," Rose noticed it, gratefully. "Can we go and take Anakin there?"

"Just a bit, dear," Leia replied apologetically, noticing with some bemusement that the baby Anakin was already apparently recognizing the concept of cake. "It's not quite ready yet-"

"Is Uncle Luke coming?" Ben asked suddenly, in an odd tone of voice.

"I don't know dear," Leia admitted. "You know that I love your uncle regardless of what differences the two of you may have, but no one can deny that his ideas of time and timing are odd – sometimes he's in a rush, sometimes too slowly, and almost never truly on time, eh?"

"Did he at least call?"

"Mmm," Leia said dismissively, clearly not really wanting to elaborate.

It was then that _Rose's_ cell phone rang. "Yes?" she spoke into it. "Oh, hello grandma. Oh, Ben's uncle Luke is picking you up, alongside Paige and Poe? How wonderful! See you all soon!" She closed the phone and gave the others a look. "Just for the record, if Mr. Skywalker causes my grandma to be late – well, later than if Paige and Poe were picking her up – she'll make him wish that she had flayed him."

Ben looked at his mother. Leia shrugged. "Luke is a grown-up man," she said simply. "He can look after his own ass – don't give me that look, Ben!"

"It's funny," Rose said to no one in particular, "but Ben and his uncle are very similar – you would've thought that the two of them would've gotten along-"

"They don't get along because they are so similar, dear," Leia began to maneuver her son and his family towards the party table. (Her husband and Chewie were some distance away from it, working on the family's BBQ closer to the lakeshore). "It happens sometimes. Are you and your sister-?"

"We're sisters, we get along, we use some space between each other, nothing more," Rose said simply, using the fact that their son distracted Ben _again_ for cover. "Anything else…you'll have to talk to grandma Maz. Maybe it was different when our parents were alive; I do not remember any of those times. Please, talk to my grandma about that."

"Fair enough," Leia nodded and looked up at the sky. "Hm. The weather _is _getting worse, I can sense it." She looked askance at Ben. "No comments?"

"Hux and Phasma are back, and this time their gifts aren't alive," her son said simply.

Immediately, both Rose and Leia stopped in their tracks and turned for a better look. Ben used this to push Anakin down the grounds towards Han and Chewie, who had finally seen them, and were very happy to do so – judging by how smudged and smoked they were, they _may've_ had an ulterior reason, but Ben didn't care.

"And what's up with you?" he asked them simply.

"The barbeque refuses to fire up," Han matched his son voice for voice. "Your uncle's not here-"

"He is picking up Rose's grandma and the rest of her family. Did you see the porcupine?"

"…I think that we saw Phasma and Hux leave it with her parents," Han nodded. "Someone's not going to be happy."

"…As long as it isn't Anakin, we'll make it," Ben looked further down into the lake proper. Winter's ice was completely gone now, and there were first water fowl on the water. Baby Anakin was happy. Rose was happy. Ben was happy, (and so was the rest of his family).

Life was good.


End file.
